China-CEE, Israeli Enlight to invest $406 mln in Polish wind farms

WARSAW, Sept 1 (Reuters) - The China-CEE Fund and Israel-listed Enlight Renewable Energy said they would invest up to 1.3 billion zlotys ($406 million) to buy control of two Polish wind projects totalling 250.5 megawatts in installed capacity.

A joint venture of China-CEE and Enlight is to buy two wind farms, Wroblew and Project 2, developed by GEO Renewables, they said on Monday.

Wroblew, valued at around 200 million zlotys, is to be completed in November this year with a capacity of around 36 MW.

Project 2 is forecast to reach a capacity of around 214 MW, with the first stage to be finilised at the end of 2015. The deal for this wind farm was still undergoing due diligence.

GEO will retain minority ownership in the two farms.

China-CEE will hold 49.9 percent and Enlight 50.1 percent in the joint venture, which will allow the Israeli-based firm to consolidate earnings and revenue from the venture into its results reports.

Earlier this year, CEE Equity Partners, which manages the China-CEE Fund, said it had $500 million to spend in the region over the next two to three years.

The Export-Import Bank of China established CEE Equity Partners in partnership with state-backed financial institutions from eastern and central Europe to capitalise on investment opportunities in the region.